Captain America: the Winter Soldier

Anthony Russo(2014)

Review

Our Score

by Alan Jones

Chris Evans returns as Steve Rogers (aka star-spangled super-soldier Captain America) who here joins forces with Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow and newcomer to the franchise Anthony Mackie, playing airborne wingman Falcon. The colourful cast of heroes, undercover villains and ghosts from the past bring nimble nuance to a deviously well-constructed story that plays like an old-school political thriller as much as a classy comic-book adventure. When Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) is left for dead, another threat to world security emerges that has a lot in common with contemporary surveillance scandals - which is news to Rogers as well, having been in cryogenic storage for 70 years. The resulting action covers the full gamut of spectacular destruction, from highway car chases to heli-carrier sky battles. Yet it's the character interplay, astute direction (by Anthony and Joe Russo, putting You, Me and Dupree behind them), and emotionally strong themes that add weight to the artful pulp. If Robert Redford looks stiff in the Marvel universe (evoking the spirit of All the President's Men), Mackie fits right in and Evans is growing into his role with supreme confidence. Watch out, too, for an appetite-whetting post-credits teaser for the next Avengers film.

Summary

Premiere. The superhuman soldier becomes an operative for secret intelligence agency SHIELD, but grows suspicious of their motives. Following a battle with a mysterious cyborg assassin, he and fellow Avenger Black Widow become fugitives, and try to bring down a sinister conspiracy. Comic-book thriller sequel, starring Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L Jackson and Robert Redford.